Rainy Day Waltz
by Biker Babe21
Summary: When a stormy day keeps the Mighty Nein inside, a bored Jester tries to find something to do and finds Caleb, and the two share a second waltz together. Rated for language. Critical Role Campaign 2. Caleb Widogast & Jester Lavorre. Widojest.


**Rainy Day Waltz**

**AN****: This is my submission for Widojest Week Day 1: Dance. This is my first published Critical Role Fanfiction. It was not the initial idea I had for this prompt, but I got the idea when we were having a bad thunderstorm in my area and I just ran with it. It also ended up being a lot longer than I had initially intended. Enjoy!**

A fierce thunderstorm has rolled through the Xhorassian capital of Rosohna. The party of adventurers known as the Mighty Nein have been confined to their house for several hours and some of them have been going stir crazy. The only ones who haven't been struck with a case of cabin fever are Nott, Yeza, Caleb, and Caduceus.

"Ugh, I am sooooooo suuuuuuper bored," Jester whines.

"Yeah, join the fucking club. Wish this rain would stop so at least I'd have an excuse to go walk around town or something," Beau complains.

"Beau?" Yasha's quiet voice asks. The monk in question turns to look at her.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to join me in the training room? I think it might be good for both of us to hit something," she asks her. Beau's face lights up for a brief moment before she hops up onto her feet. She clenches and unclenches her fists a few times.

"Hells yeah I would!" At her enthusiastic response, Yasha smiles and leads her out of the happy room and into the training room downstairs.

"Well, I'm gonna go and see if Deucy needs any help with his gardening," Fjord announces as he gets up. Jester frowns.

"I think I'm gonna go see what Cayleb's up to."

"He's probably studying. Best not to disturb him," Fjord warns. She shrugs.

"That's never stopped me from pestering him before." This brings a smile to his face which she returns with a mischievous smirk of her own. He gives her a salute before the two part ways, Fjord heading up to the tower garden and Jester down the stairs to the library lab combination. Once down there, she's met with the sight of Nott and Yeza busily working through some alchemical experiments. The pair of them talk animatedly about various chemicals and processes that are very foreign and nonsensical to the tiefling. It brings a smile to her face as she thinks about how happy Yeza makes Nott and vice versa.

She notices the red-headed wizard leaning over the small desk in the room, sheets of used parchment strung about him. Each piece of parchment is crumpled or folded up in some way and has smudged ink of barely legible symbols on them. Jester picks up one of the crumpled-up sheets and unfolds it. She studies the smudged ink and tries to decipher the symbols. She can make out some writing on the paper, but the letters don't come together to form any words that she recognizes. She remembered the few times she had seen Caleb's spell book and the writing inside was very similar.

'This must be what Zemnian looks like all written out,' she thinks. She looks at all the crumpled-up pieces of parchment, and a mischievous smirk crosses her face. She recrumples the page in her hand and launches it at the Zemnian wizard still writing at his desk. The parchment ball hits him squarely in the head. He curses in his native tongue as he rubs at the spot where he was hit. He turns to look at the couple still working on their potions and other alchemical projects.

"Nott, zis isn't funny, you know?" he says. The goblin girl turns to look at him with a raised eyebrow. In her hands are two vials that Jester can only guess the contents of.

"What isn't funny?" she asks. Caleb glares at her, and Jester quickly covers her mouth to hide a snicker. She isn't fast enough, though, as Caleb and Nott quickly turn to the sound of her barely hidden snort.

"Jester?" Nott asks. Caleb rolls his eyes. He turns back around to his papers.

"I'm busy right now, Jester. Vhy don't you don't and prank somevone else?" he asks.

"Oh come on, Cayleb! Don't be an old stick in the mud," she whines. Yeza taps his wife on the shoulder, and with a final look at her tiefling friend, the pair return to their work. The Zemnian doesn't answer her, but she also doesn't see his quill moving either. This takes this as a good sign.

"There's no one else to prank right noooooowwwwwww…Beau and Yasha are in the training room, Nott is busy with Yeza, and Fjord is helping out Caduceus…And you're not doing anything and it's still like thundering and raining and stuff out…" she complains. He huffs out a sigh and turns around, a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"So, you decided zat I vas zee only vone left to annoy?"

"Weeeeellllllll not to annoy, exactly."

"Zen to do vat?"

"I'm bored, Cayleb. And there's nothing to do," she complains. He nods.

"Ah, zere's zee reason," he says.

"Can't we do something fun since everyone else is doing stuff together?" she begs.

"Like vat?"

"I don't know," she says with a shrug. She smiles, though as now it appears that she has gotten his full attention.

"Vell I hafe to finish up zis spell transcription first zen I'm sure zat vee can find somesink to do."

"How long is that gonna take?" she whines.

"Not fery long. Just gife me two minutes." He turns around and slowly his quill begins moving again. Jester hums to herself to pass the time. As she hums, she sways back and forth in a very slow dance. Caleb finds himself not only smiling but humming along with Jester despite himself. He does manage to finally finish his work, but it takes him a little longer than he had initially anticipated. He turns to the cleric once he's finished, and she continues to hum and dance not even noticing him. A half-smile teases his lips.

"Jester?" She stops spinning and turns to him. A flush tinges her cheeks.

"Yes, Cayleb?"

"Vould you come vith me? I sink I hafe found somesink for zee two of us to do to stafe off boredom."

"Okay," she says. She bounces with joy as she follows him out to the foyer. Once into the large open room, he turns around and greets her with a smile.

"Okay, so where are we going, Cayleb?" Jester asks as she spins around to look at the room.

"Vee are here," he says as he extends his arms. Jester raises an eyebrow.

"Um…okay? And why are we here?" she asks in confusion. Caleb approaches Jester and with a low bow he extends a hand to her.

"Jester, may I hafe zis dance?" he asks with a smile. Jester covers her mouth as a shriek of joy escapes her. She jumps up and down several times. Caleb can't help but laugh at her antics. She does manage to collect herself, though.

"Of course, Cayleb," she says as she takes his hand. She whispers a small prayer to the Traveller, and the three-fourths tempo of a waltz rings out through the air. Caleb's smile widens as he pulls her in closer.

"I hope you're a better dancer when you're sober, Cayleb," she jokes. He huffs out another laugh.

"I promise zat I am a much better dancer vhen I am sober," he promises. And as Jester would soon find out, he could indeed follow through on that promise. He easily and gracefully leads her through the dance. It is such a change from what she is normally use to from him. She never would have imagined that the weak and clumsy Zemnian could ever possibly be graceful and light on his feet.

"You were right, Cayleb," she says with a giggle. He hums in response.

"You really are a better dancer when you're sober."

"I vould sink zat anyvone vould be a better dancer sober razer zan drunk," he says with a laugh. The pair continue dancing for what feels like hours. Jester relaxes in his arms and rests her head on his shoulder. She sighs dreamily as she drinks in his scent.

"You smell good," she mutters into his shoulder. He turns to look at her, a quizzical and amused look in his eyes.

"Oh? And her I sought you sought I vas stinky," he teases. This only earns him a light slap on the arm. A very light one, Jester has to remind herself, as her partner is much weaker than she is.

"I vould hate for vord to get out zat I smell good, vouldn't you?"

"Well, we'll just have to keep it our little secret…And I won't tell everyone that you're actually a really good dancer, either."

"I appreciate zat." She hums. The pair fall silent again until Jester finally breaks the silence.

"Where did you learn how to dance like this? Was it at the school?"

"Uh….nein….Ah, vell zat is to say I didn't learn how to….um.. vat I mean to say is zat I already knew how to valtz before I vent to school," he fumbles over his words as memories of his first waltz come surging forward.

"I had teachers who taught me all sorts of things. Like they taught me how to play piano, and how to dance, and how to like be a proper lady and stuff. The one lady who taught me wasn't very good, though. I pranked her a lot," Jester tells him.

"I bet…Vell, meine mutter vas zee vone who taught me how to valtz," he says softly. She lifts her head up at the foreign words.

"Your what?"

"Ah...my mozer," he says sadly.

"Your mama taught you how to waltz? That sounds so cute, Cayleb!" she gushes. A frown contorts his face.

"Ja. I suppose." Jester can feel the depression rolling off of him in waves.

"Come on, Cayleb, you can't get all sad now. You're dancing with me, and I don't dance with sad people," she says firmly. This brings a small smile to his face.

"If you say so."

"I do say so, and now you can't be sad for the rest of the dance. Cleric's orders." He laughs.

"And how exsackedly do you intend to carry out zose orders?"

"Weeeeelllllllllll, maybe you just need someone to tell you that you're sweet and kind and all sorts of nice and handsome and that I just looooooovveeeee dancing with you and I wish we could do it more often, but I know you don't like people seeing and stuff, which is totally okay, and I get that and…."she rants.

"Jester," he whispers. She stops her rant mid-sentence at his soft and tender word.

"Ja?" The Zemnian word on her tongue brings another smile to his face. He has been smiling a lot today, despite all the gloominess outside, he muses.

"Shut up," he says. Normally Jester would be offended at being told to shut up, but the way that Caleb looks at her and the way that he moves his free hand to her chin stops her. He leans down and her heart nearly pounds out of her chest. She rises up onto her tiptoes to meet him. When their lips meet, a fire of desire races through both of them.

This being Jester's first real kiss she eagerly follows Caleb's lead as he closes his eyes and leans into her. She unclasps his hand and wraps both arms around his neck like she had read about in her romance novels. The Zemnian, in turn, pulled her in closer and held her as tight as he could. The kiss lasted for two minutes and twenty seconds exactly, as his keen mind reminded him, and it was the most passion laid kiss he had ever had.

When they pulled away, they were both gasping for air and smiling. A warmth spread all through Jester, and all she wanted was to spend all day in his arms. But she knew that he would never allow that, so she instead allowed herself to just drink in this moment. She wished that she had his keen mind she that she could remember every last detail of this.

"Um…uh…I'm sorry. Zat vas uncalled for," he stutters.

"Don't you dare apologize, Cayleb! That was amazing!" And it really was, at least in Jester's mind. So amazing in fact that she gently grabbed his chin and pulled him into another kiss. At first this second kiss was more reluctant, but it quickly became just as passion filled as the first. They pulled away a little too quickly for Jester's liking, but to her surprise he pulled her into another one. And when she felt his tongue pushing against her lips, she parted them and allowed him entry.

She wasn't sure how, but this felt even better than the first two kisses. They were both very awkward, but they soon fell into a rhythm as their tongues explored every inch of each other's mouths. Now feeling a little more daring than before, Jester bit down on Caleb's bottom lip and elicited a moan from him. She could feel a swelling of pride in knowing that she had been the cause of that sound. She also could feel the Zemnian's little Zemnian pressing against her thighs, but she wasn't about to dwell on that not when the two are pulling away for air again.

This time, though, they don't go in for another kiss. They just stay there in one another's embrace. Jester lays her head back down on him, and is pleasantly surprised when he lays his head on top of hers.

"Wow, Cayleb. That was like the best dance ever!" she compliments. She almost wishes she could see the flush on his face, but then she would have to look up at him and that is definitely not something that she wants right now. She can feel him smile against her hair.

"Ja. I hafe not danced like zat for a long time," he answers. She chuckles at that.

"Did you and Astrid ever dance like that?" she can't help asking. He lifts his head and pushes away from her. He doesn't let her go, but he does give her a stern and serious look.

"Didn't anyvone efer tell you zat it is rude to talk about anozer person vhile you are somevone's arms?" he asks.

"Well you did the last time we danced," she counters.

"I vas drunk, Jester," he argues back. Her face falls as she lowers her head. Tears well up and she tries to stifle a sniffle. She had had such a good time and now here she is ruining the moment. A moment she might not ever get again.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. It is almost too low for him to hear. But hear it he does, and his face softens as he pulls her in again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow up on you. I just…" he starts. He takes a deep breath and gives himself a moment to breathe in her scent.

"I don't vant to sink about her. I vant to get her out of my mind. It has been so many years, and I doubt zat she efen remembers me, let alone remembers how in lofe vee vere." She leans into him and just allows herself to revel in how warm he is.

"Plus zere is….uh…vell..I may be, possibly in lofe vith…uh…nefermind…forget I said anysink."

"It's okay, Cayleb. I love you too," she says softly. He gasps, but instead of pulling away he only pulls her in closer.

"Ich lieben dich, Jester. And sank you for zee dance," he says. She nods.

"I wouldn't want to dance with anyone else."

"Not efen, Fjord?"

"Now, now, you know you shouldn't talk about someone else while you're holding someone in your arms," she scolds jokingly.

"Ja, alright. Forgife me," he says with a chuckle.

"You are forgiven, but only if you kiss me again." He frees her head from his and leans down to press a series of kisses along her cheek until he finally lands on her lips again. This is the shortest kiss yet, but no less pleasant than the others. Just as she is about to lean in again, she hears what sounds like Beauregard's voice coming from the training room nearby. Jester turns to look out one of the nearby windows to see that the rain has stopped.

"The rain's stopped."

"Ja, it has."

"Guess that means we'll just have to move this outside then," she jokes. The two laugh as they pull away.

"Vee vill certainly need to hafe a talk about zis later," he says as he gestures between the two of them. She nods.

"Ja, but later. Now let's go outside and enjoy the day." Just as he is nodding his assent, a thunderous sound erupts as the rest of the Nein come into their room from every which way.

"Let's go shopping, you guys!" Jester announces. They all laugh as they are leaving. Jester falls into step next to Caleb and stealthily takes hold of his hand. He smiles and squeezes it tight. Jester had never liked the rain, but for once she could say that this was a rainy day she definitely enjoyed.


End file.
